Crime: Its Cause and Treatment eBook

XXXIV

LUCK AND CHANCE

Accident and luck may seem to have no place in a world
of law, and yet the fate of lives rests almost entirely
on what can be better classified under this head than
any other.

This is a pluralistic universe. The world is
made up of an infinite number of independent machines,
each having its own existence and controlled by the
laws of its own being. In going its several ways
and living its own life, inevitably it often clashes
with others and is seriously affected by them.
The fox and the rabbit both roam the woods, apparently
at will, at least independently of each other.
By an infinite number of circumstances, at a particular
time and place, their paths cross and the fox devours
the rabbit. Had they not met at the time and
place, the fate of the rabbit would not have been the
same. The fox would have traveled farther and
eaten another rabbit or some other animal in its stead.

An engine is running on a railroad track. It
makes the trip day after day without accident or disaster.
An automobile is one of a million built in a far off
city. Its mechanism is marvelous, and each part
is dependent on the rest for its normal functioning.
Some vital piece of the machine contains a flaw.
How it chanced to be imperfect is another story involving
endless speculation. An inherent natural defect
in the ore, or a tired workman anywhere from the original
smelting place to the last hand that touched it, may
have been the cause; or, the reason may be still more
impossible to discover. The machine is purchased
and does its work perfectly for months. It is
driven thousands of miles without any mishap.
It is propelled along the highway and reaches the railroad
track over which the engine runs. It is filled
with happy people enjoying a vacation. The automobile
and the engine reach the crossing at almost the same
time. The automobile driver sees the engine and
applies the brakes. For the first time since
it left the shop, the machinery does not work.
The car forges ahead and reaches the tracks just in
time to be struck by the engine. The merry party
meets disaster. No power could foresee the catastrophe,
nor provide against the death that must result.
Inevitably comes the clash of independent machines.
Each human being is a separate machine. Along
the road of life he meets countless others like himself.
Some chance meetings are fortunate and help the journey.
Some other chance meeting with a human machine, a mechanical
device, an infinitesimal microbe that happened to be
at the same place at the same time brings disaster
or death. This is luck or chance or fate, and
this really hovers over every life, controlling its
course and destiny and deciding when the puppet shall
be laid away!